Slow down.
Thursday, 3 January 2013 12:50![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flint_garouAnd remember. Periods and commas tell us when it's okay to breathe or reply.
3 January, 2012
The moon is in the waning Half (Philodox) Moon phase (57% full).
Flint's been at Edgewood much of today since mid-morning, but he's also been holed up in the library room, reading. And thusly not seen. Now, though, the Glass Walker is in the kitchen, nose still mostly buried in a book as he rummages through the fridge, half-humming to himself.
Alexandra, on the other hand, has only just arrived from Thunder Cave not terribly long before. Visiting Edgewood offers the chance to take a hot shower, do laundry, and of course, meet up with her fellow Garou. The second of those is in progress, while she's just finished the first, which makes it an ideal time to come downstairs. "Hey Flint!" she calls out from the stairs, though it's obvious that she can't have seen him yet.
"Lex!" Flint doesn't sound at all surprised, but does sound glad, offering his packmate a wave once she comes fully downstairs. Flint's wearing shortsleeves indoors, and a bit fidgety at the moment, his usual sweatshirt instead tied around his waist. Eventually, he comes out of the fridge with a soda, and a bag of cookies.
Alexandra eyes Flint's snack choices with a chuckle. "Should've known. You're always going for the health food," she teases, moving over to add a log to the fireplace and then take a seat near it.
A young man wearing nothing but a ratty bathrobe bursts through the front door, breathless, barefoot, and smiling. "Hi everybody! I know you, but I don't know you, yet." Kyle nods first to Alexandra and then to the man with the cookies and sodas. "Let me go change, and I'll be down in a second to introduce myself. If anybody wants some re-heated salmon chowder I made yesterday, I promise it's still good as leftovers." Then he wipes his bare feet on the entranceway mat, and rushes up the stairs.
Flint looks at the newcomer, very nearly… confused, and perhaps not paying enough attention to actually follow it. "Huh," is the remark to Alexandra, before Flint makes his way over to a couch and sits down in one corner of it. "Who's…?" The question trails off and the cliath galliard shakes his head. "Cookies are good for you. Mom says I. Needta eat more."
Alexandra blinks a bit at Kyle's appearance. "Uh, yeah." She looks to Flint as the cub disappears upstairs. "That's Kyle. He's… a little weird. And not just because he was outside wearing nothing but a bathrobe in barely above freezing weather. He seems to mean well, though." The comment about cookies gets a grin from her.
Kyle returns down the stairs, now fully clothed. "Greetings, new friend and old friend-as old a friend as I have since… well, you know." Kyle smiles at them both. "Hey Alexandra, is he… you know? Should I introduce myself officially or is he not—you know?"
Flint makes an audible grumbling sound, and then shoots Kyle something that's not quite a glare. "Slow. Down," Flint says, a slight edge to his voice, and the cookies are set down, soda set down unopened, book set in his lap, and Flint straightens in his seat. "You should introduce yourself." The words are careful, as though they take some effort. "Flint, called Carves the Requiem for Cockroach's Children, or Requiem. Cliath galliard of the Glass Walkers. Beta of Unfettered, and child of Merlin." There's a pause, and Flint nods. "Your turn."
"He's one of my packmates," Alexandra replies to Kyle before falling silent, giving him the chance to offer up his own introduction in return.
Kyle stands straight and smiles, then cocks his head towards Alexandra, then answers, "She can tell you," He smiles again, "this is slow for me." He chuckles to himself. "I don't mean any disrespect. I just was warned not to go about saying things if I didn't know if someone was Garou or not. I am Kyle, now claimed by the Children of Gaia, Homid cub. Alexandra totally called it days ago, before I even knew what the Children of Gaia were!" Then he turns to Alexandra. "I've heard that word before. Like a wolf pack?"
"Slow down more," Flint grumbles, though it's mostly goodnatured. He tilts his head to his packmate. "She can… tell you. This is fast for me, so, I win." That said, Flint looks at Kyle, a little more intently. "Auspice?" he questions.
Pack> Flint grumbles more over the packlink. "He needs to un-hyper."
Alexandra says, "Ah, good, they've claimed you. I thought they might. Topsy must have gotten my message, then." Then, addressing the question, she replies, "Very much like a wolf pack, yes. The difference is that a pack of Garou bind themselves together for a common purpose and in service to a specific spirit, called a totem. Merlin—the falcon, not the wizard—is the spirit that we serve."
Kyle blinks at Flint. "Oh, I forgot that, didn't I? I'm Galliard." He turns to Alexandra. His sentences have intentional pauses between them, as if he's really trying to slow down, but doesn't quite know how. "Isn't that what a tribe does? Do all Garou have packs? Will I have a pack someday?"
Pack> Alexandra says, "He's… very emotional, too. I'd initially hoped he might make a decent Shadow Lord, but it didn't take me much time interacting with him to laugh that notion off."
The back door to Edgewood rattles and, after a moment, a breathless Charlene appears in the midst of the chaos. "Sorry, I'm late." She says, bobbing her head apologetically to Alexandra. "I know we had a teaching arrangement set up, but you know how it is when you start something and just lose track of time. Hey there, Flint. And Kyle too." She lifts a hand to wave to the cub. "Throttle back, cub. Throttle back."
Flint busies himself shoving a cookie in his mouth, and then nods, jerking his head towards Charlene in acknowledgement. "Wha'she'said," Flint says. Even when the cliath galliard is speaking through food, there's a sense of slow and deliberate and quiet about it, like words aren't quite natural for him. "Better. Pack and tribe are… are both family, but. Different. Pack is what you choose. Someday. Focus on now, first. Most Garou have packs, but. Focus on now, what's real."
Pack> Flint says, "There's a joke, somewhere. In there. About a. 'Decent', Shadow Lord." Nonetheless, it seems to be teasing his packmates rather than serious.
Alexandra says, "Tribe is like extended family. Parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews… the whole family reunion." Given Kyle's circumstances, the omission of siblings is probably deliberate. "Important, definitely. Pack… that's the family that you live with every day."
"So, everyone in a pack is a member of the same tribe?" Kyle has slowed himself way down, but his movements are halting, like he wants to be bouncing off the walls. "Would anybody like some of the salmon chowder I made? Hi Charlene!" Kyle heads towards the kitchen.
"Christ, I swear that kid's a gas molecule scaled up, the way he bounces off of everything." Charlene says with a chuckle, waving Kyle off to the kitchen. "Maybe later, Kyle. I've got to do some teachin' out here and you might be the perfect example. Gotta bind your clothes to you, after all. Head upstairs and get whatever you want to get bound to you—shoes, socks, and underwear too—bring 'em down here, and make sure you're wearin' somethin' too!"
Flint looks at Charlene and nods. "Told him to slow down. Kind of has. A little," Flint says, the usual concise speech from the Glass Walker. "Actually, food. I'd. That'd be nice, if you wanted to, to heat it up." Flint seems to have the problem that his mouth can't keep up with his brain, but he nods to the cub. "No. Packs can be… anyone. Your close friends, that you trust that. Have your back, through anything. That's pack. Lex and Ky are my pack, but we're. They're Shadow Lords, I'm a Glass Walker. It works out."
The front door crashes back on his hinges, slams closed again, and a disgracefully cheerful voice booms out from the mudroom not a moment afterwards. "The sun's shining its socks off out here! What in Gaia's name is everybody doing indoors?" The woman behind the voice appears in the living-room doorway, hands planted in hips, glaring in jovial fierceness at those in the house.
Alexandra says, "Yeah, pretty much," in agreement with Charlene. Then, as Topsy makes her entrance, the Athro Gaian gets a smile and a wave of greeting. "Hello, Topsy-rhya. We've got a nice fire going in here, so why build another one to huddle around outside?"
Kyle redirects himself midstep from the kitchen to the upstairs, but as he turns, he stumbles over his own foot, and has to hop into a crouch to keep from falling over. He carefully rises from the crouch and continues towards the stairs, as if that happens to him not-infrequently. "This is important, right, Charlene? I'm going to be wearing these clothes forever?" Then when Flint speaks, he turns back. "Oh! Charlene, can I feed him some of my salmon chowder first quick. It's really good." Then the door bursts open, and all the attempts to keep from bouncing off the walls disappear. "Charlene, it's Topsy! Topsy! I went for a run in Lupus form this morning! Charlene taught me how to change and run without falling over all the time! Charlene's going to bind some clothes to me, and Flint's going to eat the chowder I made! It's really good. I made a lot-DoYouWantSome?" Kyle's speech began picking up speed from the moment Topsy arrived, and by the end, it all comes out as one word, albeit one clearly understandable word.
"I ran over here to begin with." Charlene says, almost defensively to Topsy, but the smile shows she's not defensive at all, chuckling at Kyle. "You can change these clothes whenever—you'll just need to have someone do the rite for you again to make 'em stick. Remember the slippers from the other night? This basically keeps the clothes from doin' that when you change." There's a pause from the Fury, a blink. "So you're Topsy. I don't think we've met before. I'm Charlene Schweitzer, Song-of-Vengeance, Fostern Galliard of the Black Furies. And Kyle there…" She trails off, chuckling again. "Give the man a choice, Kyle. And remember. Periods and commas tell us when it's okay to breathe or reply."
"SLOW DOWN!" That gets abruptly snapped from the cliath galliard in the room, a flare of temper accompanying it. And it's loud, much louder than the Walker's usual quiet conversational level. Enough that Flint might have forgotten that Topsy's entered, except that then he does, and he takes a breath. "Hi. Cold outside. Was outside earlier." Another pause, and Flint looks at Topsy for a moment before adding his own introduction. "Flint, Carves the Requiem for Cockroach's Children. Cliath galliard of the Glass Walkers, Beta of Unfettered and Child of Merlin."
"Fair enough," Topsy allows, to Alexandra. "Charlene, dear, lovely to meet you, good of you to look after my cub here. Nice to see you again, Flint, and to talk to this time. Sounds as if everybody knows me already. Does anybody want the introduction, or shall we skip to 'call me Topsy, everybody does' and leave it at that? Now!" She spins on her heel to get a good look at the newest Gaian. "Kyle! Get over here this instant!"
Alexandra blinks a bit as Flint introduces himself. "You hadn't met Topsy before this? If I'd realized that, I'd have introduced you a long time ago."
After Charlene speaks, Kyle opens his mouth as if about to speak, but when Flint yells, he promptly closes it. All the puppy dog has left him, and he no longer seems eager to bounce off the walls. If he were in Lupus form, his tail would be between his legs. And when Topsy speaks sternly to him, he suddenly looks confused and terrified. He glances at Alexandra, and he wears the same look on his face that he had the first night she met him. He slowly, head down, shuffles towards Topsy.
With Kyle suitably cowed, Charlene heads for the kitchen. There's the sound of the door opening and closing, a drawer or two opening, and something pouring, the Fury returning a minutes later with a couple of bowls and a small, sharp paring knife which are all placed on the hearth in front of the fire. She doesn't speak since Kyle isn't her cub. Topsy gets to take the lead. She does, however, motion to Alexandra. "The things you'll need." she explains. "To do the rite."
Flint takes a deep breath and clearly turns his focus inward, though there's some amount of watching Topsy with Kyle. "Sorry," he also murmurs, mostly to Alexandra.
Poor, cowed, fearful Kyle is scooped up into a Topsy-bear-sized hug. Given her ample padding, there is not much of the poor kid left visible for a moment or two. She sets him back down on his feet to get another look at him. "There now. Make sure you're dressed the way you want to stay for a while, dear, and then let's see how these youngsters handle the Dedication. Don't look so worried! Deep breath, chin up! Carry on, my dears!" she tells the others collectively, beaming at them. "All yours!"
Alexandra just shakes her head at Kyle before sharing a look and a faint smile with Flint. As Charlene starts talking about rites, she looks confused. "What are you talking about? I thought we were meeting so that I could teach you a rite, not the other way around."
Pack> Alexandra says, "He's a nice kid. But I think you can see why April joked about him being my little brother, when he's like twice my size and several years older."
As Kyle is scooped up, his eyes go wide with surprise. A muffled sound comes from him as he's squeezed tight. After Topsy sets him down, he looks up at her. "Is that how you killed a bane?"
Charlene blinks. "Oh… well…" She looks down at her things. "First thing first, then. Artwork, wasn't it?" She leaves her stuff on the hearth to dedicate Kyle's things for him the moment the teaching is done. To Kyle, Charlene chuckles. "If this is the same Topsy I've heard about, there was that, tickling, and a large stuffed walrus involved."
Flint watches the bit of confusion, and then settles on the couch with his soda. Attention turns to Topsy and Kyle, and Flint chuckles. "I can, do. Dedication, while Lex and Charlene do what they're at, if. You want. I just…" Flint looks over at the stuff that's been put aside, gets up, and wanders into the kitchen, coming back with a roll of ducttape, and a magic marker.
"It was a Silver Fang King, dear," Topsy claims, "and I didn't kill him." She sniffs. "Expect socially, and honestly, he really needed to lighten up. It wasn't a walrus at all! It was a giant snake bane, and after Paint-Dries-Quickly had created enough air inside it to fill a blimp, balloon animals was about all you could make of it, the poor thing. We found what was left of it three miles away, after Halfr bit through its neck… it went off with a terrific Bronx cheer." She seems to be trusting that someone will get on with dedication at some point. The Cliath would probably be surprised if she didn't know it herself, come to that, so it's likely no surprise to them if the Ahroun isn't worried about it getting done at some point.
Alexandra shakes her head to Flint. "No need. I'll work with Charlene later, and she can do the dedication she was planning on. Easier for everyone, I think."
Kyle says, "Flint, if you want, there's still chowder I made. As clumsy as I am, I can still heat some up without spilling any. Then, I can go choose clothes while you eat. If you want." Kyle speaks quietly and clearly."
"Why don't you go get your clothes, Kyle. And when we're done with the rite we'll all go have a bowl. I've never had salmon other than a filet with butter and lemon, so I'm interested to see what cream and whatever else you put into it tastes like." Charlene sits on the hearth, smiling, shaking her head with a chuckle. "No self-depreciation. You're not a Bone Gnawer."
Flint nods. "Clothes first," Flint agrees, and he offers Kyle a look that is clearly appreciation for the cub managing to slow down. The tape is slid onto Flint's wrist, and he glances to Charlene. "Up to you, if you. Want to, or I could. I'm…" There's a glance at the things Charlene has. "Kinda curious, as to. How. How you do it. Kavi-rhya taught me it."
"I've seldom known a Bone Gnawer to be that big on self-depreciation either," Topsy comments. "Chop chop, get the clothes and don't keep people waiting, everybody here's had this little Rite performed on them and it's warmer and less embarrassing afterwards to boot." Then she stops dead, looks down at her feet, glances around herself, and finally claps a hand to her forehead. "Slap me sideways and call me Susan, I've left the bags behind. Don't wait up, dears!" Turning around and leaving Kyle to the tender mercies of the Cliath and Charlene Collective, she bustles back out again, presumably to find the bags.
Alexandra replies to Charlene, "Oh, he's not being self-deprecating. He has problems with getting tangled up in latitude lines, among other things. I've seen it happen." Her tone does indicate that she's joking… but a joke with a bit of truth mixed in with it, too.
Kyle nods. "It's true." He waves at Topsy back enthusiastically, and then walks carefully upstairs to go make fashion decisions.
"To make a very long story short on how I was taught. Basic premise is this…" Charlene watches as Kyle goes up the stairs, before continuing. "Bowl of water, bowl of salt. Water to cleanse the items and person, salt to absorb the spirit from a little blood and to make a circle. Knife for… well… blood removal. I've not done too much experimenting with the wording—it's a few phrases of latin, but basically works out to 'cleanse this person, cleanse this item' and 'bind this item to the offered spirit.' Sprinkle the salt over the item and boom—bound. Takes maybe five minutes if you're quick about it.
Flint nods, and gestures to the ducttape on his wrist. "Tape the item to the person with a small bit, glyphs. I, usually just hum and, something to call to the spirits. Tape off, and it's done. Kavi-rhya learned it from Jacob-rhya, who I think, he. He said, learned it from Lefty-rhya. Ducttape is. Easy to get."
Alexandra listens to both of them, but doesn't appear to have anything to add on the subject of how the rite is performed, so stays quiet for the time being.
Kyle returns down the stairs wearing a red and green plaid flannel over a purple t-shirt with a unicorn with a rainbow horn and mane on it. He wears plain blue jeans that are 2 sizes too big, a plain black belt to hold them up, hiking boots and thick wool socks. He holds a green tweed cap in his hands. "I just found all this stuff. Is it okay to use? And I can have a hat, too?"
Cliath and fostern Galliard look at each other for a moment, and Flint nods. "I'll do it, this time?" he asks, getting a nod in response. "Yep," Charlene tells Kyle, before moving off into the kitchen for the moment.
Flint looks at Kyle, brows furrowing. "Try the laundry room. There's, more clean spare clothes there. Might be pants the right size, there, then we'll. Do this."
Alexandra stares at Kyle's clothing choices. "Wow. That's… wow." A short pause, and she decides on the appropriate line to paraphrase for the circumstances. "A man walks down the street wearing an outfit like that, and you know he's not afraid of anything."
"Oh. No. But it's really good, I promise!" Kyle looks a little surprised.
Flint chuckles, opening his drink and taking a long sip, and looks at the cub. "Smells good. Good enough for. For me," Flint says. "Plus you can make lots of things, cook them, that, from." Flint grumbles and downs another swig of the drink, shutting up for the moment.
Charlene returns from wherever it was she went, adding her part to the conversation. "Heads have a lot of flavor. Down 'round my parts, you can get lengua—basically cheek or tongue—on a tortilla. Damn good stuff. Lots of flavor in the brain, too, from what I hear."
Alexandra takes a drink from her glass. "How long before it's ready? You just throwing it in the microwave, or taking the time to heat it up on the stove?"
Kyle blows a quiet raspberry. "Stovetop. It'll be another 5 minutes, now."
Flint nods once, though Charlene gets a variant of the look from the last time the two had spoken, like the moon is actually made of blue cheese. "At some point, if. If it's food," he informs the fostern, "I don't ask." There's a faint hint of strain in how level Flint keeps his voice, all-too-well remembered hunger.
Alexandra says, "Well, I guess I'll find out what I think soon enough." She's not a terribly picky eater, so why not give it a shot?
"That's the reason that, if you've got a favorite spot and they make tamales, you don't ask what's in 'em. Normal palates—western, English-type tastes—might balk if they knew what parts their meals came from." Charlene sniffs the air. "Smells good, though."
Flint quiets where he's sitting, not far from his pack alpha, and seems to retreat a little bit inwards, only sipping his beer every few minutes.
Alexandra glances over to her packmate, although she doesn't say anything to him. At least not out loud.
The Fury takes the bowl with a small smile and a nod, lifting it to her lips without using a spoon, and taking a sip. She keeps her eyes closed as she rolls it around in her mouth, swallowing after a moment with a soft 'mmmf.' "That's..hell, that's good stuff. I bet someone could eat this for a week and end up fifty pounds heavier and as round as Luna." She giggles and takes another sip of the chowder before shifting slightly, looking at the two members of Unfettered. "I did have a question, you two, concerning your forays into the sewers." Another sip while she makes sure attention is held on her before she speaks again. "I wanted to go down there and check out a couple of the places you had cleaned out using the Sewer Queen's map. As a devious sort, it'd be just our luck that the slugs and such were removed to make room for wyrm-tainted alligators or something like that. Love for one of ya'll to come with me, too, since poking around down there by m'self ain't somethin' I'd consider safe."
Flint takes his bowl and settles it balanced on his knees, nodding absently in Alexandra's direction. Several spoonfuls of soup disappear quickly and then Flint slows down. "Good," is what the cliath galliard proclaims, after Charlene's spoken, and he nods. "Right. I. I can, draw you a copy. Of the. Of the map. And, I. I'll… go with you," he says, pausing. "Just, you'll… need to, come by the tenement, to. To start."
Alexandra says, "No reason all of us can't go, assuming we're available when you head down there. We've been targeting slugs and stray rats; with four of us we ought to be able to handle a nest, too."
"Was waitin' for the moon to get smaller. was plannin' on goin' t'morrow, actually." Charlene takes another mouthful of soup. "You'll notice, Kyle, that Garou never do anything alone that they can do with others. It's a lot safer that way with others watching your back."
The Glass Walker nods to Charlene. "We'll meet up at the, Tenement then," Flint agrees. "Or, anyway. Yes. And I'll draw the map copy, tonight, when I. When I get home."
Alexandra eats some of her soup, apparently enjoying it, then takes a swallow of her milk as well. To Charlene's comment, she adds, "It's part wolf-instinct and part common sense—we're strong individually, sure, but a pack working in concert can take down much larger prey than any one wolf individually."
"So… I can come, too, then?" Kyle seems like he's containing a lot of excitement.
Flint glances up at Kyle, and shakes his head. "No," Flint says shortly, though he seems inclined to let either Charlene or Alexandra explain further.
"Not our call to make. Specifically Topsy'd be the one who could give you the yea or nay. Even then, I don't think she'd give permission 'cause of where we're goin'. Another good rule of thumb is to go expectin' trouble an' plan accordingly. Now, I don't want to run into giant monsters or what have you in the dark of the sewers, but in a straight up fight against an unknown enemy, I'd rather have Garou with some blood on their claws, who know the environment, and didn't just learn to walk the day before." Charlene smiles. "Don't worry, kid, you'll have your chance to get stuck in. Not tomorrow, though." Another mouthful of chowder follows. "Tell you all the gory details when we get back, though."
Alexandra says, "You're a cub. Like Charlene said, you'll face the creatures of the Wyrm for the first time after Topsy-rhya has given you some training and feels like you're ready. She's an Ahroun, so she'll probably want to take you out the first time herself."
Kyle looks disappointed. "I see."
Flint continues eating his soup, but manages a reassuring grin for Kyle. "Don't worry about. About it," the Walker says. "It's. Not all it's cracked up to be, anyway." Not that Flint seems any the less enthusiastic about getting to go do things, but it's a quiet and weird enthusiasm from the cliath. The can of beer is tipped back, summarily apparently emptied, and then Flint chews his lower lip. "Soup's good," he adds, sticking to the safe topic of food once more.
"You wouldn't be expected to play first string in the NFL just out of high school band." Charlene agrees with Flint. "There are things you need to be able to do that you don't know how to do yet. Use your claws, your teeth, your strength in the best way you can. Not get in the way. Not require someone to watch over you to make sure you're not being flanked." Charlene moves over and taps Kyle (Not Reed or Flint) on the nose lightly before draining her bowl of chowder.
Alexandra finishes off her own bowl, washing it down with the last of her milk, then gets up to put both the bowl and the glass in the kitchen sink. "Think I'm going to head out to the garage and do some working out. Thanks for the chowder, Kyle. Flint, Charlene, I'll catch the two of you later."
"I see. I do, but…" Kyle stops. "Can I, say, get permission from one of the members of my tribe to learn how to fight from you if they're not around?"
Flint nods. "If Topsy-rhya says," Flint tells Kyle. "Seeya, Lex." Flint sets his empty bowl down on the coffee table, and picks up the book that had migrated about the couch. "It. Cubhood, is. For learning, and playing, and all. Not for. Worrying."
"Bye, Alexandra. We'll do that teaching sooner or later." Charlene says with a wave as Alexandra starts heading out, taking her bowl to the kitchen along with Alexandra's, putting them in the sink for later cleaning. "And like Flint said, if Topsy-rhya says we can, we can. Not before that."
Kyle smiles. "But you can talk to me, right? You're both Galliards, and Galliards are, like, bards? They tell stories and sing songs of heroic deeds performed by the Garou? Could one of you tell me a story?" Kyle gives them his best puppy-dog eyes.
"Slow down," Flint instructs Kyle, again. It's nearly becoming a litany. "If. If Charlene wants to. Or. I could sing some of, the. Songs." There's a pause, and Flint says, nearly stubbornly. "I don't tell stories."
"I can probably come up with a couple if you're interested." Charlene says after a moment, plopping down on one of the seats around the fire after retrieving her guitar from wherever she had it stored next to a wall out of the way. She limbers up her fingers and plucks the strings gently. "Topsy, again, is the final say to all of that. Each tribe has it's own stories, legends, rules and regulations… what have you. Think of different religions having different creation tales. The Get of Fenris, for example, have a remarkably different viewpoint and creation stories than, say, the Gaians or the Furies."
"Yes, please." Kyle tries to use as few words as possible, but then, as a worry that he was unclear crosses his face, "To either. To both. To songs and stories. I'd like to hear some."
Flint seems perfectly content to let the Fostern take point on this, extricating himself from the couch and going to the kitchen for a moment. He returns with another drink—soda this time—and reclaims his spot.
"Breakin' out the hard stuff, Flint?" Gentle teasing from the Fury as she pulls one leg beneath the other in the chair and starts to rock comfortably back and forth. "Any particular kind of song you'd like? Heroism? History? Anything I tell'll have to be kind of slanted toward the Furies since, well, that's the stories I know. Could tell you about the goin's on 'round these parts the year I was here. Stories of the old group I used to pal 'round with. Stories of my old pack—its rise and fall and the chiminage I had to pay to keep Panther in the Garou's good graces. My rite of passage… I've got loads of 'em."
Life stirs upstairs with a creak or two of a floorboard and a closing door. Footfalls cross from one side to the other then stop, letting silence settle for a moment or two before being broken by the sounds of water turning on and rattling through old pipes.
Kyle says "Start at the beginning, maybe? What's the oldest story you know?" Kyle sits on the floor before Charlene."
Flint grins at Charlene. "Nah, one's enough," he assures the fostern, and settles on the couch, intent on apparently listening, and also glancing at his phone. "We should. Trade stories, more. Sometime. I know a bunch, Kaz-rhya told me, and some others, deserve to get told. Remembered." However, for now, the Glass Walker is intent on listening.
3 January, 2012
The moon is in the waning Half (Philodox) Moon phase (57% full).
Flint's been at Edgewood much of today since mid-morning, but he's also been holed up in the library room, reading. And thusly not seen. Now, though, the Glass Walker is in the kitchen, nose still mostly buried in a book as he rummages through the fridge, half-humming to himself.
Alexandra, on the other hand, has only just arrived from Thunder Cave not terribly long before. Visiting Edgewood offers the chance to take a hot shower, do laundry, and of course, meet up with her fellow Garou. The second of those is in progress, while she's just finished the first, which makes it an ideal time to come downstairs. "Hey Flint!" she calls out from the stairs, though it's obvious that she can't have seen him yet.
"Lex!" Flint doesn't sound at all surprised, but does sound glad, offering his packmate a wave once she comes fully downstairs. Flint's wearing shortsleeves indoors, and a bit fidgety at the moment, his usual sweatshirt instead tied around his waist. Eventually, he comes out of the fridge with a soda, and a bag of cookies.
Alexandra eyes Flint's snack choices with a chuckle. "Should've known. You're always going for the health food," she teases, moving over to add a log to the fireplace and then take a seat near it.
A young man wearing nothing but a ratty bathrobe bursts through the front door, breathless, barefoot, and smiling. "Hi everybody! I know you, but I don't know you, yet." Kyle nods first to Alexandra and then to the man with the cookies and sodas. "Let me go change, and I'll be down in a second to introduce myself. If anybody wants some re-heated salmon chowder I made yesterday, I promise it's still good as leftovers." Then he wipes his bare feet on the entranceway mat, and rushes up the stairs.
Flint looks at the newcomer, very nearly… confused, and perhaps not paying enough attention to actually follow it. "Huh," is the remark to Alexandra, before Flint makes his way over to a couch and sits down in one corner of it. "Who's…?" The question trails off and the cliath galliard shakes his head. "Cookies are good for you. Mom says I. Needta eat more."
Alexandra blinks a bit at Kyle's appearance. "Uh, yeah." She looks to Flint as the cub disappears upstairs. "That's Kyle. He's… a little weird. And not just because he was outside wearing nothing but a bathrobe in barely above freezing weather. He seems to mean well, though." The comment about cookies gets a grin from her.
Kyle returns down the stairs, now fully clothed. "Greetings, new friend and old friend-as old a friend as I have since… well, you know." Kyle smiles at them both. "Hey Alexandra, is he… you know? Should I introduce myself officially or is he not—you know?"
Flint makes an audible grumbling sound, and then shoots Kyle something that's not quite a glare. "Slow. Down," Flint says, a slight edge to his voice, and the cookies are set down, soda set down unopened, book set in his lap, and Flint straightens in his seat. "You should introduce yourself." The words are careful, as though they take some effort. "Flint, called Carves the Requiem for Cockroach's Children, or Requiem. Cliath galliard of the Glass Walkers. Beta of Unfettered, and child of Merlin." There's a pause, and Flint nods. "Your turn."
"He's one of my packmates," Alexandra replies to Kyle before falling silent, giving him the chance to offer up his own introduction in return.
Kyle stands straight and smiles, then cocks his head towards Alexandra, then answers, "She can tell you," He smiles again, "this is slow for me." He chuckles to himself. "I don't mean any disrespect. I just was warned not to go about saying things if I didn't know if someone was Garou or not. I am Kyle, now claimed by the Children of Gaia, Homid cub. Alexandra totally called it days ago, before I even knew what the Children of Gaia were!" Then he turns to Alexandra. "I've heard that word before. Like a wolf pack?"
"Slow down more," Flint grumbles, though it's mostly goodnatured. He tilts his head to his packmate. "She can… tell you. This is fast for me, so, I win." That said, Flint looks at Kyle, a little more intently. "Auspice?" he questions.
Pack> Flint grumbles more over the packlink. "He needs to un-hyper."
Alexandra says, "Ah, good, they've claimed you. I thought they might. Topsy must have gotten my message, then." Then, addressing the question, she replies, "Very much like a wolf pack, yes. The difference is that a pack of Garou bind themselves together for a common purpose and in service to a specific spirit, called a totem. Merlin—the falcon, not the wizard—is the spirit that we serve."
Kyle blinks at Flint. "Oh, I forgot that, didn't I? I'm Galliard." He turns to Alexandra. His sentences have intentional pauses between them, as if he's really trying to slow down, but doesn't quite know how. "Isn't that what a tribe does? Do all Garou have packs? Will I have a pack someday?"
Pack> Alexandra says, "He's… very emotional, too. I'd initially hoped he might make a decent Shadow Lord, but it didn't take me much time interacting with him to laugh that notion off."
The back door to Edgewood rattles and, after a moment, a breathless Charlene appears in the midst of the chaos. "Sorry, I'm late." She says, bobbing her head apologetically to Alexandra. "I know we had a teaching arrangement set up, but you know how it is when you start something and just lose track of time. Hey there, Flint. And Kyle too." She lifts a hand to wave to the cub. "Throttle back, cub. Throttle back."
Flint busies himself shoving a cookie in his mouth, and then nods, jerking his head towards Charlene in acknowledgement. "Wha'she'said," Flint says. Even when the cliath galliard is speaking through food, there's a sense of slow and deliberate and quiet about it, like words aren't quite natural for him. "Better. Pack and tribe are… are both family, but. Different. Pack is what you choose. Someday. Focus on now, first. Most Garou have packs, but. Focus on now, what's real."
Pack> Flint says, "There's a joke, somewhere. In there. About a. 'Decent', Shadow Lord." Nonetheless, it seems to be teasing his packmates rather than serious.
Alexandra says, "Tribe is like extended family. Parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews… the whole family reunion." Given Kyle's circumstances, the omission of siblings is probably deliberate. "Important, definitely. Pack… that's the family that you live with every day."
"So, everyone in a pack is a member of the same tribe?" Kyle has slowed himself way down, but his movements are halting, like he wants to be bouncing off the walls. "Would anybody like some of the salmon chowder I made? Hi Charlene!" Kyle heads towards the kitchen.
"Christ, I swear that kid's a gas molecule scaled up, the way he bounces off of everything." Charlene says with a chuckle, waving Kyle off to the kitchen. "Maybe later, Kyle. I've got to do some teachin' out here and you might be the perfect example. Gotta bind your clothes to you, after all. Head upstairs and get whatever you want to get bound to you—shoes, socks, and underwear too—bring 'em down here, and make sure you're wearin' somethin' too!"
Flint looks at Charlene and nods. "Told him to slow down. Kind of has. A little," Flint says, the usual concise speech from the Glass Walker. "Actually, food. I'd. That'd be nice, if you wanted to, to heat it up." Flint seems to have the problem that his mouth can't keep up with his brain, but he nods to the cub. "No. Packs can be… anyone. Your close friends, that you trust that. Have your back, through anything. That's pack. Lex and Ky are my pack, but we're. They're Shadow Lords, I'm a Glass Walker. It works out."
The front door crashes back on his hinges, slams closed again, and a disgracefully cheerful voice booms out from the mudroom not a moment afterwards. "The sun's shining its socks off out here! What in Gaia's name is everybody doing indoors?" The woman behind the voice appears in the living-room doorway, hands planted in hips, glaring in jovial fierceness at those in the house.
Alexandra says, "Yeah, pretty much," in agreement with Charlene. Then, as Topsy makes her entrance, the Athro Gaian gets a smile and a wave of greeting. "Hello, Topsy-rhya. We've got a nice fire going in here, so why build another one to huddle around outside?"
Kyle redirects himself midstep from the kitchen to the upstairs, but as he turns, he stumbles over his own foot, and has to hop into a crouch to keep from falling over. He carefully rises from the crouch and continues towards the stairs, as if that happens to him not-infrequently. "This is important, right, Charlene? I'm going to be wearing these clothes forever?" Then when Flint speaks, he turns back. "Oh! Charlene, can I feed him some of my salmon chowder first quick. It's really good." Then the door bursts open, and all the attempts to keep from bouncing off the walls disappear. "Charlene, it's Topsy! Topsy! I went for a run in Lupus form this morning! Charlene taught me how to change and run without falling over all the time! Charlene's going to bind some clothes to me, and Flint's going to eat the chowder I made! It's really good. I made a lot-DoYouWantSome?" Kyle's speech began picking up speed from the moment Topsy arrived, and by the end, it all comes out as one word, albeit one clearly understandable word.
"I ran over here to begin with." Charlene says, almost defensively to Topsy, but the smile shows she's not defensive at all, chuckling at Kyle. "You can change these clothes whenever—you'll just need to have someone do the rite for you again to make 'em stick. Remember the slippers from the other night? This basically keeps the clothes from doin' that when you change." There's a pause from the Fury, a blink. "So you're Topsy. I don't think we've met before. I'm Charlene Schweitzer, Song-of-Vengeance, Fostern Galliard of the Black Furies. And Kyle there…" She trails off, chuckling again. "Give the man a choice, Kyle. And remember. Periods and commas tell us when it's okay to breathe or reply."
"SLOW DOWN!" That gets abruptly snapped from the cliath galliard in the room, a flare of temper accompanying it. And it's loud, much louder than the Walker's usual quiet conversational level. Enough that Flint might have forgotten that Topsy's entered, except that then he does, and he takes a breath. "Hi. Cold outside. Was outside earlier." Another pause, and Flint looks at Topsy for a moment before adding his own introduction. "Flint, Carves the Requiem for Cockroach's Children. Cliath galliard of the Glass Walkers, Beta of Unfettered and Child of Merlin."
"Fair enough," Topsy allows, to Alexandra. "Charlene, dear, lovely to meet you, good of you to look after my cub here. Nice to see you again, Flint, and to talk to this time. Sounds as if everybody knows me already. Does anybody want the introduction, or shall we skip to 'call me Topsy, everybody does' and leave it at that? Now!" She spins on her heel to get a good look at the newest Gaian. "Kyle! Get over here this instant!"
Alexandra blinks a bit as Flint introduces himself. "You hadn't met Topsy before this? If I'd realized that, I'd have introduced you a long time ago."
After Charlene speaks, Kyle opens his mouth as if about to speak, but when Flint yells, he promptly closes it. All the puppy dog has left him, and he no longer seems eager to bounce off the walls. If he were in Lupus form, his tail would be between his legs. And when Topsy speaks sternly to him, he suddenly looks confused and terrified. He glances at Alexandra, and he wears the same look on his face that he had the first night she met him. He slowly, head down, shuffles towards Topsy.
With Kyle suitably cowed, Charlene heads for the kitchen. There's the sound of the door opening and closing, a drawer or two opening, and something pouring, the Fury returning a minutes later with a couple of bowls and a small, sharp paring knife which are all placed on the hearth in front of the fire. She doesn't speak since Kyle isn't her cub. Topsy gets to take the lead. She does, however, motion to Alexandra. "The things you'll need." she explains. "To do the rite."
Flint takes a deep breath and clearly turns his focus inward, though there's some amount of watching Topsy with Kyle. "Sorry," he also murmurs, mostly to Alexandra.
Poor, cowed, fearful Kyle is scooped up into a Topsy-bear-sized hug. Given her ample padding, there is not much of the poor kid left visible for a moment or two. She sets him back down on his feet to get another look at him. "There now. Make sure you're dressed the way you want to stay for a while, dear, and then let's see how these youngsters handle the Dedication. Don't look so worried! Deep breath, chin up! Carry on, my dears!" she tells the others collectively, beaming at them. "All yours!"
Alexandra just shakes her head at Kyle before sharing a look and a faint smile with Flint. As Charlene starts talking about rites, she looks confused. "What are you talking about? I thought we were meeting so that I could teach you a rite, not the other way around."
Pack> Alexandra says, "He's a nice kid. But I think you can see why April joked about him being my little brother, when he's like twice my size and several years older."
As Kyle is scooped up, his eyes go wide with surprise. A muffled sound comes from him as he's squeezed tight. After Topsy sets him down, he looks up at her. "Is that how you killed a bane?"
Charlene blinks. "Oh… well…" She looks down at her things. "First thing first, then. Artwork, wasn't it?" She leaves her stuff on the hearth to dedicate Kyle's things for him the moment the teaching is done. To Kyle, Charlene chuckles. "If this is the same Topsy I've heard about, there was that, tickling, and a large stuffed walrus involved."
Flint watches the bit of confusion, and then settles on the couch with his soda. Attention turns to Topsy and Kyle, and Flint chuckles. "I can, do. Dedication, while Lex and Charlene do what they're at, if. You want. I just…" Flint looks over at the stuff that's been put aside, gets up, and wanders into the kitchen, coming back with a roll of ducttape, and a magic marker.
"It was a Silver Fang King, dear," Topsy claims, "and I didn't kill him." She sniffs. "Expect socially, and honestly, he really needed to lighten up. It wasn't a walrus at all! It was a giant snake bane, and after Paint-Dries-Quickly had created enough air inside it to fill a blimp, balloon animals was about all you could make of it, the poor thing. We found what was left of it three miles away, after Halfr bit through its neck… it went off with a terrific Bronx cheer." She seems to be trusting that someone will get on with dedication at some point. The Cliath would probably be surprised if she didn't know it herself, come to that, so it's likely no surprise to them if the Ahroun isn't worried about it getting done at some point.
Alexandra shakes her head to Flint. "No need. I'll work with Charlene later, and she can do the dedication she was planning on. Easier for everyone, I think."
Kyle says, "Flint, if you want, there's still chowder I made. As clumsy as I am, I can still heat some up without spilling any. Then, I can go choose clothes while you eat. If you want." Kyle speaks quietly and clearly."
"Why don't you go get your clothes, Kyle. And when we're done with the rite we'll all go have a bowl. I've never had salmon other than a filet with butter and lemon, so I'm interested to see what cream and whatever else you put into it tastes like." Charlene sits on the hearth, smiling, shaking her head with a chuckle. "No self-depreciation. You're not a Bone Gnawer."
Flint nods. "Clothes first," Flint agrees, and he offers Kyle a look that is clearly appreciation for the cub managing to slow down. The tape is slid onto Flint's wrist, and he glances to Charlene. "Up to you, if you. Want to, or I could. I'm…" There's a glance at the things Charlene has. "Kinda curious, as to. How. How you do it. Kavi-rhya taught me it."
"I've seldom known a Bone Gnawer to be that big on self-depreciation either," Topsy comments. "Chop chop, get the clothes and don't keep people waiting, everybody here's had this little Rite performed on them and it's warmer and less embarrassing afterwards to boot." Then she stops dead, looks down at her feet, glances around herself, and finally claps a hand to her forehead. "Slap me sideways and call me Susan, I've left the bags behind. Don't wait up, dears!" Turning around and leaving Kyle to the tender mercies of the Cliath and Charlene Collective, she bustles back out again, presumably to find the bags.
Alexandra replies to Charlene, "Oh, he's not being self-deprecating. He has problems with getting tangled up in latitude lines, among other things. I've seen it happen." Her tone does indicate that she's joking… but a joke with a bit of truth mixed in with it, too.
Kyle nods. "It's true." He waves at Topsy back enthusiastically, and then walks carefully upstairs to go make fashion decisions.
"To make a very long story short on how I was taught. Basic premise is this…" Charlene watches as Kyle goes up the stairs, before continuing. "Bowl of water, bowl of salt. Water to cleanse the items and person, salt to absorb the spirit from a little blood and to make a circle. Knife for… well… blood removal. I've not done too much experimenting with the wording—it's a few phrases of latin, but basically works out to 'cleanse this person, cleanse this item' and 'bind this item to the offered spirit.' Sprinkle the salt over the item and boom—bound. Takes maybe five minutes if you're quick about it.
Flint nods, and gestures to the ducttape on his wrist. "Tape the item to the person with a small bit, glyphs. I, usually just hum and, something to call to the spirits. Tape off, and it's done. Kavi-rhya learned it from Jacob-rhya, who I think, he. He said, learned it from Lefty-rhya. Ducttape is. Easy to get."
Alexandra listens to both of them, but doesn't appear to have anything to add on the subject of how the rite is performed, so stays quiet for the time being.
Kyle returns down the stairs wearing a red and green plaid flannel over a purple t-shirt with a unicorn with a rainbow horn and mane on it. He wears plain blue jeans that are 2 sizes too big, a plain black belt to hold them up, hiking boots and thick wool socks. He holds a green tweed cap in his hands. "I just found all this stuff. Is it okay to use? And I can have a hat, too?"
Cliath and fostern Galliard look at each other for a moment, and Flint nods. "I'll do it, this time?" he asks, getting a nod in response. "Yep," Charlene tells Kyle, before moving off into the kitchen for the moment.
Flint looks at Kyle, brows furrowing. "Try the laundry room. There's, more clean spare clothes there. Might be pants the right size, there, then we'll. Do this."
Alexandra stares at Kyle's clothing choices. "Wow. That's… wow." A short pause, and she decides on the appropriate line to paraphrase for the circumstances. "A man walks down the street wearing an outfit like that, and you know he's not afraid of anything."
"Oh. No. But it's really good, I promise!" Kyle looks a little surprised.
Flint chuckles, opening his drink and taking a long sip, and looks at the cub. "Smells good. Good enough for. For me," Flint says. "Plus you can make lots of things, cook them, that, from." Flint grumbles and downs another swig of the drink, shutting up for the moment.
Charlene returns from wherever it was she went, adding her part to the conversation. "Heads have a lot of flavor. Down 'round my parts, you can get lengua—basically cheek or tongue—on a tortilla. Damn good stuff. Lots of flavor in the brain, too, from what I hear."
Alexandra takes a drink from her glass. "How long before it's ready? You just throwing it in the microwave, or taking the time to heat it up on the stove?"
Kyle blows a quiet raspberry. "Stovetop. It'll be another 5 minutes, now."
Flint nods once, though Charlene gets a variant of the look from the last time the two had spoken, like the moon is actually made of blue cheese. "At some point, if. If it's food," he informs the fostern, "I don't ask." There's a faint hint of strain in how level Flint keeps his voice, all-too-well remembered hunger.
Alexandra says, "Well, I guess I'll find out what I think soon enough." She's not a terribly picky eater, so why not give it a shot?
"That's the reason that, if you've got a favorite spot and they make tamales, you don't ask what's in 'em. Normal palates—western, English-type tastes—might balk if they knew what parts their meals came from." Charlene sniffs the air. "Smells good, though."
Flint quiets where he's sitting, not far from his pack alpha, and seems to retreat a little bit inwards, only sipping his beer every few minutes.
Alexandra glances over to her packmate, although she doesn't say anything to him. At least not out loud.
The Fury takes the bowl with a small smile and a nod, lifting it to her lips without using a spoon, and taking a sip. She keeps her eyes closed as she rolls it around in her mouth, swallowing after a moment with a soft 'mmmf.' "That's..hell, that's good stuff. I bet someone could eat this for a week and end up fifty pounds heavier and as round as Luna." She giggles and takes another sip of the chowder before shifting slightly, looking at the two members of Unfettered. "I did have a question, you two, concerning your forays into the sewers." Another sip while she makes sure attention is held on her before she speaks again. "I wanted to go down there and check out a couple of the places you had cleaned out using the Sewer Queen's map. As a devious sort, it'd be just our luck that the slugs and such were removed to make room for wyrm-tainted alligators or something like that. Love for one of ya'll to come with me, too, since poking around down there by m'self ain't somethin' I'd consider safe."
Flint takes his bowl and settles it balanced on his knees, nodding absently in Alexandra's direction. Several spoonfuls of soup disappear quickly and then Flint slows down. "Good," is what the cliath galliard proclaims, after Charlene's spoken, and he nods. "Right. I. I can, draw you a copy. Of the. Of the map. And, I. I'll… go with you," he says, pausing. "Just, you'll… need to, come by the tenement, to. To start."
Alexandra says, "No reason all of us can't go, assuming we're available when you head down there. We've been targeting slugs and stray rats; with four of us we ought to be able to handle a nest, too."
"Was waitin' for the moon to get smaller. was plannin' on goin' t'morrow, actually." Charlene takes another mouthful of soup. "You'll notice, Kyle, that Garou never do anything alone that they can do with others. It's a lot safer that way with others watching your back."
The Glass Walker nods to Charlene. "We'll meet up at the, Tenement then," Flint agrees. "Or, anyway. Yes. And I'll draw the map copy, tonight, when I. When I get home."
Alexandra eats some of her soup, apparently enjoying it, then takes a swallow of her milk as well. To Charlene's comment, she adds, "It's part wolf-instinct and part common sense—we're strong individually, sure, but a pack working in concert can take down much larger prey than any one wolf individually."
"So… I can come, too, then?" Kyle seems like he's containing a lot of excitement.
Flint glances up at Kyle, and shakes his head. "No," Flint says shortly, though he seems inclined to let either Charlene or Alexandra explain further.
"Not our call to make. Specifically Topsy'd be the one who could give you the yea or nay. Even then, I don't think she'd give permission 'cause of where we're goin'. Another good rule of thumb is to go expectin' trouble an' plan accordingly. Now, I don't want to run into giant monsters or what have you in the dark of the sewers, but in a straight up fight against an unknown enemy, I'd rather have Garou with some blood on their claws, who know the environment, and didn't just learn to walk the day before." Charlene smiles. "Don't worry, kid, you'll have your chance to get stuck in. Not tomorrow, though." Another mouthful of chowder follows. "Tell you all the gory details when we get back, though."
Alexandra says, "You're a cub. Like Charlene said, you'll face the creatures of the Wyrm for the first time after Topsy-rhya has given you some training and feels like you're ready. She's an Ahroun, so she'll probably want to take you out the first time herself."
Kyle looks disappointed. "I see."
Flint continues eating his soup, but manages a reassuring grin for Kyle. "Don't worry about. About it," the Walker says. "It's. Not all it's cracked up to be, anyway." Not that Flint seems any the less enthusiastic about getting to go do things, but it's a quiet and weird enthusiasm from the cliath. The can of beer is tipped back, summarily apparently emptied, and then Flint chews his lower lip. "Soup's good," he adds, sticking to the safe topic of food once more.
"You wouldn't be expected to play first string in the NFL just out of high school band." Charlene agrees with Flint. "There are things you need to be able to do that you don't know how to do yet. Use your claws, your teeth, your strength in the best way you can. Not get in the way. Not require someone to watch over you to make sure you're not being flanked." Charlene moves over and taps Kyle (Not Reed or Flint) on the nose lightly before draining her bowl of chowder.
Alexandra finishes off her own bowl, washing it down with the last of her milk, then gets up to put both the bowl and the glass in the kitchen sink. "Think I'm going to head out to the garage and do some working out. Thanks for the chowder, Kyle. Flint, Charlene, I'll catch the two of you later."
"I see. I do, but…" Kyle stops. "Can I, say, get permission from one of the members of my tribe to learn how to fight from you if they're not around?"
Flint nods. "If Topsy-rhya says," Flint tells Kyle. "Seeya, Lex." Flint sets his empty bowl down on the coffee table, and picks up the book that had migrated about the couch. "It. Cubhood, is. For learning, and playing, and all. Not for. Worrying."
"Bye, Alexandra. We'll do that teaching sooner or later." Charlene says with a wave as Alexandra starts heading out, taking her bowl to the kitchen along with Alexandra's, putting them in the sink for later cleaning. "And like Flint said, if Topsy-rhya says we can, we can. Not before that."
Kyle smiles. "But you can talk to me, right? You're both Galliards, and Galliards are, like, bards? They tell stories and sing songs of heroic deeds performed by the Garou? Could one of you tell me a story?" Kyle gives them his best puppy-dog eyes.
"Slow down," Flint instructs Kyle, again. It's nearly becoming a litany. "If. If Charlene wants to. Or. I could sing some of, the. Songs." There's a pause, and Flint says, nearly stubbornly. "I don't tell stories."
"I can probably come up with a couple if you're interested." Charlene says after a moment, plopping down on one of the seats around the fire after retrieving her guitar from wherever she had it stored next to a wall out of the way. She limbers up her fingers and plucks the strings gently. "Topsy, again, is the final say to all of that. Each tribe has it's own stories, legends, rules and regulations… what have you. Think of different religions having different creation tales. The Get of Fenris, for example, have a remarkably different viewpoint and creation stories than, say, the Gaians or the Furies."
"Yes, please." Kyle tries to use as few words as possible, but then, as a worry that he was unclear crosses his face, "To either. To both. To songs and stories. I'd like to hear some."
Flint seems perfectly content to let the Fostern take point on this, extricating himself from the couch and going to the kitchen for a moment. He returns with another drink—soda this time—and reclaims his spot.
"Breakin' out the hard stuff, Flint?" Gentle teasing from the Fury as she pulls one leg beneath the other in the chair and starts to rock comfortably back and forth. "Any particular kind of song you'd like? Heroism? History? Anything I tell'll have to be kind of slanted toward the Furies since, well, that's the stories I know. Could tell you about the goin's on 'round these parts the year I was here. Stories of the old group I used to pal 'round with. Stories of my old pack—its rise and fall and the chiminage I had to pay to keep Panther in the Garou's good graces. My rite of passage… I've got loads of 'em."
Life stirs upstairs with a creak or two of a floorboard and a closing door. Footfalls cross from one side to the other then stop, letting silence settle for a moment or two before being broken by the sounds of water turning on and rattling through old pipes.
Kyle says "Start at the beginning, maybe? What's the oldest story you know?" Kyle sits on the floor before Charlene."
Flint grins at Charlene. "Nah, one's enough," he assures the fostern, and settles on the couch, intent on apparently listening, and also glancing at his phone. "We should. Trade stories, more. Sometime. I know a bunch, Kaz-rhya told me, and some others, deserve to get told. Remembered." However, for now, the Glass Walker is intent on listening.